1. Silicon Valley goes to the movies
Movies offer an opportunity to escape from
the worries of every day life, whether it’s a
fast-paced action film or a tear-inducing
drama. But even in movies set in the near
future, or animated fare, there’s no
escaping one thing at the movies these
days: the ubiquitous product placement.
The technology industry is proving a master
of the product placement in movies –
sometimes subtle, sometimes not so much.
With the Toronto International Film Festival
beginning this week, join expertIP in our
technology-themed salute to cinema. Let’s
go to the movies!
By Jeff Jedras
Image courtesy of porbital / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

2. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
This latest installment in the Tom Cruise Mission:
Impossible franchise was one of the most-hyped
movies of the year and it was also one of the most
technology product placement-laden, with
appearances from Apple, Canon, Casio, Dell, LG and
Panasonic.
When Ethan Hunt needs technical support, his IT
team is using a Macbook Air, and the iPad and
iPhone also get cameos. Movie directors often turn
to Apple for a touch of cool.
Also watch for Canon’s HV20 digital camera shooting
in Moscow’s Red Square and Dell’s Streak 5 helping
Hunt navigate through a sandstorm.

3. 21 Jump Street
While Mission Impossible was a natural choice for a
film to be filled with technology gadgets, you
probably wouldn’t think of the young adult drama
21 Jump Street being in the same league. But
considering the film’s young target demographic,
product and brand placements from Facebook,
Twitter, Sony Ericsson and Sony Vaio make sense.
Stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum turn to Twitter
and Facebook to help fit in as undercover police
posing as high school students. Hill’s budding
romance with a student is helped along by texts
exchanged with a Sony Ericsson Xperia mobile
phone, and keep an eye out for the Vaio laptop as
well.
With the film being produced by Sony Pictures,
seeing Sony products only makes sense.

4. Safe House
This action thriller staring Denzel Washington and
Ryan Reynolds about an ex-CIA agent turned
international criminal was a box office hit, and
vendors Apple, BlackBerry and Dell were
probably hoping it would be a hit for them as
well.
The undercover CIA agents stationed in South
Africa use iPhones, naturally, to keep in touch
with Washington. They don’t just use iPhones
though. Keep your eyes peeled and you may spot
a Blackberry Torch 9810, for those secret agents
that, like myself, still prefer a hard QWERTY
keyboard.
Computer maker Dell has a Safe House cameo as
well.

5. The Avengers
One of two major comic book turned
blockbuster movies of the summer (The Dark
Knight Rises being the other), the star-packed
The Avengers movie saw an all-star team of
super heroes fighting to save the planet. With a
technology assist, of course, from Oracle and LG.
Oracle has already had a relationship with the
Ironman franchise, and with Ironman featured as
one of The Avengers that relationship continued.
After all, how can you save the planet without
big data? You can’t, of course, which is why if
you’re watching closely you’ll see an Oracle Big
Data Appliance featuring the Oracle and Sun
logos powering their data centre.
Also, watch for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha
Romanoff using an LG Lotus Elite LX610 flip
phone.

6. Contraband
In Contraband, Mark Wahlberg stars as a man
who will go to great lengths to protect his family.
And so would you, if you were married to Kate
Beckinsale.
Long story short, Whalberg turns to running
contraband to pay off his brother-in-law’s debt
to a drug lord. And he gets a little help from
Apple and BlackBerry along the way.
Many of the main characters in Contraband were
sporting BlackBerry Torch smartphones, and
were even seen communicating using BlackBerry
Messenger.
No word on what Whalberg’s PIN is though.

7. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
Finally, you may not expect to find a technology
product placement in an animated film where
zoo animals are the stars. But when you’re zoo
animals trying to make your way undetected
through Europe in Madagascar 3, you may
need a technology assist.
Hewlett-Packard Co. has been working with
DreamWorks for a number of years, and
provides the workstations used to animate and
render many of their films, such as How to
Train Your Dragon and Monsters vs. Aliens.
Madagascar 3 was the first time HP went on
screen though. While it’s not quite a product
placement, an Italian policeman was heard to
mention his “HP printer.” No word if it was an
ink jet or a laser.